Cheerleader

"Mascot!? Whadya mean 'mascot'?!"

Winston frowned – he couldn't ever remember seeing Lena angry. Annoyed, yes. Aggrieved, yes, especially after the Slipstream disaster. But angry? No. And certainly not like this

"Calm down Lena, I only meant-"

"I know what you meant!" the former Overwatch agent exclaimed. "You…you want me as…as…a cheerleader!"

"No, what I meant was-"

"Mascot? Booth girl? Tart?!"

Winston growled and his eyes flared. This was uncalled for. But even then, Lena wasn't backing down.

So the eyes turned back to their normal colour and he looked out over Gibraltar, adjusting his glasses for good measure. A warm breeze blew from the south, and seagulls sung their songs. They'd only just got a surveillance drone into orbit, despite Talon mercenaries showing up to try and stop that. By all rights, this should have been a celebration. Not a shouting match.

"Lena, the public knows you," the gorilla said, turning his gaze back to the former Overwatch agent. "Ever since that museum bust, everyone's been asking about you."

"Asking about me? You call speculations about me having a thing for Widowmaker 'asking' about me?"

"Point is," Winston snarled, remembering the innuendos of less savoury media outlets, "you're our public face, whether you like it or not." He smiled. "No-one wants a giant gorilla representing the reformed Overwatch."

"Why not?" Lena asked, putting her hands on her hips and blowing away some hair. "You're a hero. Everyone knows you from when you took out Doomfist. And you deserve as much credit for thwarting Reaper and Widowmaker as I do." She frowned. "Quite frankly, I'd love for you to take a bit more credit on that one…"

"Maybe," Winston shrugged. "But like it or not, you're the new media hero. Not just for kicking arse and taking names, but actually playing the superhero role. Y'know, the whole 'chin up simians' thing."

"Kids," Lena murmured. "Not simians, kids."

"See?" he asked. "You're much better at this than I am."

"Right," Tracer murmured. "Better. Of course."

Winston was silent. Overwatch reformed. With the satellite up in the air, they could already contact the other members. That, and new recruits were already trying to sign up. Already he'd got a message from someone in Helix, a Fareeha Amari, if he recalled correctly. But as Lena had said, the world could always use more heroes. And as they both knew, even if she didn't like it, she'd become that hero.

"Fine," Lena said, sitting down on the outer wall that separated the watchpoint from the sea. "I'll be your public face. But no pom-poms."

"Deal."

"And no dresses."

"Fine."

"And I get to keep these," she said, twirling her pulse pistols. "Always."

"That might be…"

Lena glared at him.

"Alright," Winston said. "Pistols on you at all times." He gave her a pat on the shoulder, one that could have sent her flying off the wall if he hadn't restrained himself. "Now, shall we go in? See how the satellite's doing? Give our first statement that Overwatch is back?"

"Fine," Lena sighed. "Let's get this over with."

A/N

So, awhile ago it was stated in an interview that Tracer was considered the unofficial mascot for the game. All things considered, I can see why. Sparked the idea for portraying this in-universe.